In an increasing number of today's homes advanced technology is being
used to make living and working easier: all kinds of services can be
ordered at the click of a remote control unit, networked systems provide
round-the-clock security, domestic appliances can be remotely programmed
to operate as part of a data communications network, and entertainment
programs can be accessed wherever a screen and loudspeaker are
available.

With its slogan "Solutions for the home" e/home 2004 -
international trade fair and congress - from 1 to 3 September on the
Berlin Exhibition Grounds, presents a wide range of commercially viable
developments that are already available for the networked home. And this
year, for the third time, it will again be the only event of its kind to
bring together everyone involved in the development of the intelligent
home: manufacturers and systems providers from the electrical and
electronics industries, service providers, network integrators, building
owners and developers, architects, the skilled trades and specialist
dealers. For all of them e/home offers the ideal platform for
discussions and for sharing in the continued development of this young
and expanding market.

This year trade visitors can inspect the latest developments in
automation for the home as well as some exciting trends and solutions
from the field of consumer electronics. The consumer electronics
organisation Gesellschaft für Unterhaltungs- und
Kommunikationselektronik mbH (gfu) will be working in association with
the Consumer Electronics Trade Association, part of the electro-industry
association ZVEI, to present their own event, which will be taking place
parallel with e/home. This will include the "Forum Innovative
Consumer Electronics" with papers dealing with every aspect of the
electronic media. The topics under discussion will include the digital
television of the future HDTV, new standards for television reception
using mobile terminals, and the storage of media content in home
servers, enabling sound and images to be accessed from every part of the
home.

An accompanying presentation entitled "Innovative Consumer
Electronics" will acquaint visitors in more detail with these new
systems and the equipment involved, which includes media servers for the
wire-less transmission of digital entertainment programs of all kinds to
any television in the home, as well as home cinema installations that
can also download videos from the internet. These devices were among the
most spectacular trends in this sector at the recent consumer
electronics fair IFA 2003. Popular products of this kind are expected to
give a substantial boost to the development of the fully networked home
over the coming years.

The congress accompanying e/home will feature a number of leading
international experts and will also reflect the interdisciplinary
concept of the event as a whole. The topics have been chosen for their
wide-ranging appeal to various different industries, trades and
technical platforms, as well as to marketing experts, engineers,
suppliers and potential customers.

The panels of experts will address specific user areas, customer
target groups and brand environments and will concentrate on the
following:

Entertainment

Health and Comfort

Operating Concepts

Home Automation

Security

Building and Planning

Industry Joint Ventures

Trends & Developments

The speakers will examine all the various facets of each of these
topics -

In terms of their technical aspects: how can the various technical
standards be ideally integrated into the application scenarios?

In terms of the various commercial aspects: what business models
and what marketing strategies can be used to ensure that proposed
applications can be turned into economically attractive concepts?

and in terms of the experience already gained in these areas: what
model projects suggest examples of the most interesting development
directions?

Messe Berlin is the main organiser of e/home 2004, assisted by
Gesellschaft für Unterhaltungs- und Kommunikationselektronik mbH (gfu),
which also organises the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA), and which
will be acting partnership with the retail association Bundesverband
Technik des Einzelhandels (BVT) and the industry association
Zentralverband Elektrotechnik- und Elektronikindustrie (ZVEI).